Pricing
Self-host Cycles for free. Pay only when you want our people involved. No license key, no seat fees, and no percentage of agent spend.
Today, paid plans support self-hosted Cycles deployments. A managed cloud (RunCycles.io) is planned but not yet available.
How pricing works
- Apache 2.0 open-source software. Cycles is Apache 2.0 open-source software. Self-host it for free. Paid plans do not unlock hidden features; they add support, implementation help, and assurance. No license key, no feature gating, no seat fees.
- No agent-spend tax. We never take a percentage of your model, tool, or agent spend. Support pricing is flat and independent of tokens, requests, agents, tenants, or downstream provider spend — the opposite of gateways that bill a cut of every call.
- You pay for humans and guarantees, not bits. Response targets, expert integration help, and compliance-readiness evidence are the product. The software stays free.
Community
Evaluating or running non-critical workloads
- GitHub issues, docs, and community
- Best-effort response
- Public security advisories
- Public roadmap
Production
One production workload
- One private Slack channel + email
- Next-business-day response; SEV-1 target 4 business hours
- Early security advisories + upgrade guidance
- One annual scope/deployment review
- Roadmap input
Enterprise
Mission-critical, regulated, or multiple workloads
- Private Slack + email + scheduled calls
- Custom incident-response terms, including optional 24×7 SEV-1 coverage
- Pre-release access + version-pinning guidance
- Quarterly architecture reviews + named engineer
- Evidence/retention config + auditor Q&A support
- Prioritized protocol requests
Production support covers Cycles deployment, configuration, upgrades, protocol behavior, and integration guidance. It does not include building or operating your agent application.
Fixed-scope services
One-time engagements with a fixed price and a concrete deliverable. Subscriptions are billed annually; services are 50% on start / 50% on delivery, or net-30.
Production Readiness Review
Architecture, security, and scope-model review plus a Redis HA/capacity plan. Deliverable: written findings, deployment risk register, runtime/admin hardening checklist, recommended policy/scope model, and a 30-day implementation plan.
Integration Sprint
Wire Cycles into one agreed workload path with reserve / commit / release, shadow mode where applicable, and a working PR or patch set (Python, TypeScript, Spring, or MCP). You provide access to the target codebase, the deployment environment, and a technical owner.
Compliance Evidence Package
Map Cycles-generated evidence and runtime controls to selected control narratives for EU AI Act readiness, NIST AI RMF, and ISO/IEC 42001. Configure CyclesEvidence signing and retention/cold export, and deliver an auditor-ready evidence pack. This is not legal advice.
Team Enablement Workshop
Remote workshop for up to 12 engineers on runtime authority, budget and scope design, and the incident patterns Cycles is built to prevent.
Design partners are a separate track
The Design Partner program is not a pricing tier. It's a small, selective, free cohort: founder access and priority support during a 60-day integration window, in exchange for running a real workload, pushing us hard on what's missing, and an opt-in public artifact. Paid support is for teams that want guaranteed response and expert help without the design-partner commitments — or who are outside or past the cohort.
Running a real multi-tenant workload and willing to shape the next two protocol releases? Apply to become a design partner →
Managed cloud — coming
A fully managed Cycles (RunCycles.io) is on the roadmap: we run Redis, the runtime, the admin server, and the events service, on a SOC 2 track, so you don't have to. It is planned but not yet available — until then, every paid plan above supports your self-hosted deployment.
Join the managed-cloud waitlist →
Frequently asked
Is the software really free? Yes — Apache 2.0, no feature gating, no license key. Paid plans add support and assurance, not capabilities.
Do you take a cut of our agent spend? No. We never take a percentage of your model, tool, or agent spend. Support pricing is flat and independent of usage.
Do I need a support plan to run in production? No. Many teams run self-hosted on community support. Paid plans are for guaranteed response and expert help. Note that Production support covers the Cycles deployment — not building or operating your agent application.
How is a support plan different from the design partner program? The design partner program is free, selective, and feedback-for-access: you run a real workload and shape the roadmap. A support plan is open to anyone, gives you a defined response target, and carries no feedback or co-marketing obligation.
Can a services engagement turn into a subscription? Yes. A Production Readiness Review or an Integration Sprint commonly precedes a Production support plan.
What about managed cloud? It's on the roadmap. Join the waitlist.
How do you bill? Subscriptions are billed annually. Services are 50% on start and 50% on delivery, or net-30.
Talk to the team building Cycles
Most teams reach out for one of four reasons — they all land in the same inbox, and a founder reads every one.
- Piloting Cycles on a real stackYou're putting Cycles in front of a real workload — Python, TypeScript, Spring Boot, Rust, MCP — and want implementation help or a second pair of eyes on the integration.
- Hit a failure mode we haven't documentedRunaway agent, retry storm, unit mismatch, scope-derivation edge case. Tell us what broke; we'll add it to the runbook.
- Feedback on the protocol or roadmapYou've read the spec and have opinions on the error contract, permission model, or something you need in v0.1.26.
- Evaluating Cycles for productionYou're evaluating Cycles for production — comparing it to rate limiters, LLM gateways, or observability tools. We'll walk through the spec, demo the runtime, and answer integration questions.Start with the evaluation guide →
Running a real agent workload and evaluating Cycles? Apply to become a design partner →
Found a bug or have a concrete technical issue? Open a GitHub issue instead — it’s faster for everyone.